Affinity Of Gender Stereotypes And Political Culture: From Discrimination To Equal Rights

Abstract

The paper considers problems of influence and affinity of political culture dominating in society and gender stereotypes. Political culture is seen as an integral notion, which includes previous experience, knowledge and emotions. Historical experience, which is retransmitted from generation to generation, is an important determinant in formation of gender stereotypes. Gender stereotypes act as a factor of political culture, which forms political preferences of voters today. They affect evaluation of subjects of the political process. Herewith, concepts of masculinity / femininity correlate with perceptions of strength / weakness - the masculine is valued as more positive than the feminine, which allows concluding about the androcentrism of political discourse. At the same time, gender stereotypes, as an integrated part of political culture, are in close relation to politics. First of all, their influence on politics reveals itself in how they impact the political behavior of women and men - both voters and politicians. Thus, as a whole, gender stereotypes act as a factor of culture which limits female representation in power. This is a factor of discrimination against women in the political sphere. Despite the fact that transformation of the political system is accompanied by reproduction of stereotype perceptions of social communities about the leading role of males in politics, it can be claimed that there is gradual correlation of gender stereotypes in the direction of comparatively balanced condition of male and female potentials and there are growing opportunities for women to participate in the sphere of public policy and management.